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Wednesday, January 21, 2015

James Holmes and the Insanity Plea - Inconsistent Reasoning

James Holmes; the celebrated movie theater killer of 2 years
ago; is set to go on trial after much delay. His delays and tests; along with
the quest to have the trial moved elsewhere, have a ll failed and he is now on
trial for his life. Let me be clear on this point; I am for the death penalty.
But I am aghast at the way this case is being manipulated to prove that Mr.
Holmes is sane enough to go on trial for his life.

Examine the facts; in addition to what he did in that
theater, which is clearly beyond sane as he had no real motive; he is now
tethered to the floor of the courtroom where he is being tried as sane. Does
this make any sense?

I refer to a post on this which I did about 2 years ago at
the time of Mr. Holmes arraignment. In short, I am for killing Mr. Holmes, but
I am against the charade which would have us believe that this man is sane. I
just want to call a spade a spade. Here is that post;

Much has been
written of late concerning the use of the Insanity Plea as a defense in general
and, in particular, in the case of James Holmes. Holmes is the young man accused of multiple
homicides in the shooting at a midnight showing of 'The Dark Knight Rises' in
Colorado, which resulted in 12 people being killed and another 59 wounded.
Police say the suspect acted alone and had no prior criminal record or ties to
terrorism. He had, though, been under the care of a Mental Health professional
at the time, and his case was reviewed, at the direction of his doctor, by a
crisis management team just days before the killings took place.

Now the deed is
done, and the Monday morning “Quarterbacking” has begun in earnest. The talking
heads on my TV all say that the Insanity Plea is a dead end, as Mr. Holmes
clearly planned this attack beforehand. This line of thinking, in determining
whether Mr. Holmes is sane or not, is like comparing an orange to a watermelon.
It makes no sense.

If, for example, I
were to plan a murder for profit; and then say I was crazy; that would be a
ridiculous plea, which would carry no merit. I would, in that case, be “crazy
as a fox.” Obviously my crime would have had a criminal purpose; I was driven
by greed. But what about the Holmes case? Let’s take a look at it.

Here’s a young man;
with known mental difficulties; whose own doctor even questioned whether or not
he was a danger to himself and others. He has planned, in meticulous detail, a
crime too heinous to imagine. And then he actually carries it out, resulting in
the deaths and injuries mentioned above. He hopes to gain no profit from his
act. He doesn’t even have a sense of reality about the whole event; he even
asked a deputy, after the shooting, how the film ended.

When considering an
Insanity Plea, the question is not whether we believe that the subject was
capable of premeditation in the crime for which they stand accused; the real
question is how sane was the plan to begin with. What possible gain was there
for Mr. Holmes to attain, even if he had gotten away with the crime? The answer
is patently obvious. There was no gain, no real motive other than to commit the
crime. That’s insane. Just like the guy who contemplates whether or not he can
fly by jumping off the roof, he’s clearly insane.

Is this a plea to
spare Mr. Holmes life? Not a chance. I believe in the death penalty. I just
believe in being honest with ourselves about why we execute people when we do.
The law says we do not execute people who are insane. So, in order to execute
Mr. Holmes, he must be found to be sane.

No matter how much
we kid ourselves to the contrary, Mr. Holmes is damaged, and likely will never
be “fixed”. I mourn for the families of those who lost loved ones by his
actions. If he is found guilty, I support the application of the death penalty
for his crimes. Just don’t expect me to believe that he is sane.